Homework and Practice

Technology 1: VoiceThread (Blog Site)

• Rationale
  • VoiceThread, an updated blog type site is "a powerful new way to talk about and share your images, documents, and videos." VoiceThread allows people to discuss multimedia that is stored on private or public pages. One of the great things about VoiceThread is that it allows people the ability to comment in 5 different ways including; telephone, webcam, microphone, text/doodling, or file upload.
  • This technology works well with the researched-strategy "homework and practice" because it allows students to deepen their understanding of concepts by discussing topics, pictures, and/or videos in various ways. One of the best ways for students to deepen their understanding of concepts is by the back and forth conversations between students themselves, and this is a great medium to help foster this type of activity. VoiceThread also fits well with "homework and practice" because it supports communication between students and teachers by allowing teachers to quickly respond to student comments as they are made, teachers may even respond with meaningful voice comments to student contributions.

• Resources needed by school/Estimated Cost
  • VoiceThread is available for purchase by a single teacher or an entire school/district. For a single teacher registering for VoiceThread it will cost $60/year or $10/month, with the capacity to register 100 students (each additional student will cost $1). VoiceThread is also offered as a license to an entire school/district at $1 per student with a minimum of 200 students.

• Rationale
  • Time's Online Magazine is a free online magazine that provides national and global news through text, photograph, video, and postcards. This is a great resource for educators to use when trying to meet the goal of creating effective "homework and practice." Using Time Magazine Online allows students to gain/expand understanding of topics discussed in class while making applications to events taking place throughout the world. Time Magazine is also a great way to help students "prep" for or anticipate an upcoming days lesson by giving students an opportunity to read an applicable article.

• Resources needed by school/Estimated Cost
  • Time Magazine Online is a free resource that can be found at www.time.com.

• Rationale
  • Bubble.us is an outstanding resources that allows users to brainstorm and organize their thoughts online. This tool easily fits the researched-based strategy of "homework and practice" as it allows students to organize their thoughts from previous classes into a neat graphic organizer. Bubble.us is a great way for students to "adapt and shape" newly learned information as they begin to organize and categorize information it in their own way.

• Resources needed by school/Estimated Cost
  • Bubble.us is a free resource for all users, only requiring a registration username and password.

• School-Family Connections

  • Maintaining school and family connections is an important challenge that all educators must deal with. Positive connections can aid in the success of student learning. VoiceThread supports these connections as it provides a setting where the school day can be extended and learning can be deepened as students engage in discussion with the teacher and one another.

• NETC. (2005). Focus on effectiveness: integrating technologies into researched-based strategies. Retrieved on April 14, 2010 from http://www.netc.org/focus/.